Revised

Getting to Love You

Chapter 8

As she suspected, the police were not much help and it only took them half an hour to tell her that they could not do much in just a day. She dismissed them without resentment. She hadn't expected much else; it had been nearly a month after all. Plus even if they had caught the culprit the probability of seeing her things again was next to nothing. The truth was that she wanted to be alone for another reason.

She would need to buy new things here, but for that she would of course need money. And that meant only one thing. It meant that half an hour later she was at the door of a conspicuous mansion in the southern part of Tokyo. A place she had not been to for more than fifteen years. It still felt the same; imposing and unfamiliar. Ironic.

A few seconds after she rang in a stiff looking butler came to receive her.

"I'm here to see Saya-san," she announced behind the bars.

"Who may I ask is calling?" asked the man politely.

"Tamamura-san," she answered curtly as the man lifted his brow, "Her daughter."

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"Thank you ma'am," smiled Horo-Horo as the last recipient signed his log.

Now he was done! The last package was delivered and, he looked up at the afternoon sky and calculated that he had finished about fifteen minutes before the hour. It was probably about one. He checked his phone confirming that it was 1:04pm and sent a message to Tamao.

-Meet you at T. Tower in half an hour?-

It took him longer to write the damn txt then to get an answer.

-I'll be there, I'm in the area.-

He smiled and stored his phone back in his pocket. He felt better knowing she was well enough to answer the text but would not be at peace until they were together again. It had only been four weeks. Had he really become so used to her in that time that being away from her now felt so odd?

He shook off his thoughts as Coloro landed on his shoulder. Thinking about things like this, made him nervous for some reason. It was best to just let things be. He was not one to over think things anyway.

He arrived at the land mark at 1:32 and was scanning through the crowd for her familiar rose colored hair when someone yelled in the back ground. Instincts kicking in he sidestepped as a middle aged man shot by him knocking several people away in his intent to flee.

"Please! He stole my—"

By the lady's third word the ainu had already taken off after the creep in the blue jacket. The place was crowded and difficult to navigate in. Definitely no use of powers here, but even with this guy's head start it would be too easy.

"Coloro," began Horo-Horo.

Yet before he could issue the command a blur of pink invaded his field of vision and he stared wide eyed at the scene unfolding before him. Her leg came up in front of the guys feet sending him reeling in the air, but before he touched the ground her elbow found his back. She pulled back the thief's hand in which the purse was in all in the time it took him to take one step. He skidded to a stop as she pinned the guy to the ground sending the purse flying through the air.

Eyes wide in shock he caught the bag as it flew past him and stared at the couple on the floor.

"Amazing!"

"Did you see that?"

"That girl stopped the thief?"

A crowd had gathered around them as the lady and a couple police officers weaved their way towards them.

"What happened?" Demanded one of the security guards.

"Oh my purse!" hollered the woman throwing herself over Horo-Horo. "You got it back. Thank you so much! I—"

"I'm not the one you should be thanking lady," he somewhat smiled as the police relieved Tamao of her captive on the ground. The lady followed Horo-Horo's line of sight to a small girl dusting herself off as the thief was dragged away.

The lady smirked in disbelief but as she heard the murmurs of the crowd around her and looked back at the boy gazing proudly at his pink haired companion it dawned on her.

Slapping the dirt off her knees Tamao looked up at the circle of murmuring people and blushed. Maybe that had been a little over the top of her. A familiar spec of blue caught her eye and in the moment it took her to gaze up at him both had said everything with their smiles.

"Miss?"

Tamao looked up at a young looking woman now clutching her purse closely to her chest.

"It was you who stopped the thief wasn't it?" she asked uncertainly.

"Ah, well yes I heard—"

"Thank you!"

Tamao gave a small yelp as the lady pounced on her with a fierce hug. "I just have everything in here, and if I would have lost it..."

"I understand ma'am," Tamao smiled nervously trying to push the stranger off her discretely.

"And I'm so sorry but, I don't really have anything to pay you back with,"

"Oh," Tamao shook her head, "No, no ma'am. I don't need anything in return. Just to know everything is all right,"

The lady stared at her longingly and hesitated only a moment before embracing her again. Tamao had to endure the lady's sentiment only until the police called back to file a formal report at the station. The strange woman said goodbye and thank you over and over as the crowd began to disperse little by little.

By the time Tamao could no longer hear her voice, the people had pretty much all fanned out and the only one left was Horo-Horo walking towards her with a sly smile on his face. She blushed at the twinkle of pride in his eyes and offered him a small shrug as he approached.

"Well, that was exciting," she confessed.

"Um... 'wow'!" he said in an obvious sort of voice, "Tamao, that was...!"

She looked down at her feet and twiddled her fingers. He smiled at the bashful look on her face and stepped up to her. Looking up she was surprised when his left hand came over her cheek and brushed something away with his thumb.

"Amazing," he finished wiping the dirt from her reddening cheek.

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"All passengers to Hokkaido, this is the final call for the 8:15 train. All passengers to Hokkaido, please board now."

"Ah!" Horo-Horo sighed as he took a seat next to Tamao on the train, "Finally."

Tamao smiled at the tiredness in his voice as he sprawled out on the seat setting his head against the back of the booth. It had been a long day, but she commended him for keeping it together. After all, spending a whole day with a girl on a shopping spree was not exactly easy for any man. He had behaved quite nicely and had been a lot of fun to shop with. Of course it had taken his toll on the country boy.

"We'll be home soon Horo-Horo," she consoled, "Don't worry."

He peeked at her through one open eye and stared. He wondered if her use of words had been intentional or automatic. Either way he was glad to hear that word from her: home.

"Yeah,"

"Tickets please."

Both turned to the train official as he held out his hand expectedly and greeted them with a smile.

"Oh, here," Horo-Horo offered the pieces of paper to the expectant official and waited while he punched them through.

"Thank you," the official was about to leave but backtracked when he caught a look at Tamao.

"Uh, excuse me miss,"

Tamao looked up with the same questioning look Horo-Horo had at the official's inquiry.

"You would not happen to be Miss Tamamura, would you?"

This caught both their attention.

"Um, yes," she answered unsurely. Did she know this guy?

"Ha! It is you!" he said with a much too cheery attitude.

Horo-Horo raised a brow. Did she know this guy?

"You travelled from Izumo to Tokyo about a month ago, yes? And had a connecting train up north?"

Now she raised a brow, who the hell was this guy and how in the world did he know this? Horo-Horo gave her an is-everything-all-right? Look before she looked back at the official and nodded.

"Yes."

"You forgot your bags!"

There was a long pause in everyone's movements. The official with his cheery questioning face, Tamao with denial about ready to burst out of her lips and Horo-Horo completely lost.

"I'm sorry?" Tamao asked again.

"Yes! It is you! When last you came here I helped you take your bags off the train. You know, you set them down in the hall and since passengers where coming out I took them off the train for you and waited for you to come off but... you never came out the door."

The pause was back, but the faces where different now. Tamao's mouth shrank to the size of a pea, Horo-Horo's jaw dropped in some sort of smile and the guy looked at both expectantly.

"They are your bags aren't they? We still have them here for you."

Tamao looked from the cheery official to all the bags she had just bought today and paled. A mighty laughter erupted beside her as the official looked to the Ainu in confusion.

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Her mouth was sore from pouting so much, but the feeling would not go away. How could she have been so stupid? Of all the idiotic... and then finding out... just hours after she had gone through all the trouble of getting her stuff back. And in front of Horo-Horo to top it all off. He had been really sweet not to laugh too much at the whole situation. She knew how hard it must have been for him. This whole day had just been...!

He snorted and brought her out of her self pitying spiral. She turned to look at the man giggling in front of her and sighed. At least he was trying.

"I'm not laughing for the reason you think I am," he explained to her.

"Well, I wouldn't hold it against you if you were," she pouted in defeat.

He shook his head, "I'm laughing because the exact same thing has happened to me."

"No it hasn't," she said matter-of-factly, but appreciated the fact that he was trying to make her feel better.

He raised an eyebrow. "You don't believe me, but you can ask Yoh, or Manta, even Anna was there."

She looked up hopeful. "Really?"

He smiled down warmly at her and leaned against his seat, "It was my first time in Tokyo, my first time away from home really. I hadn't been in the city for more than a day..."

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Her eyes opened without warning and she looked around, disoriented for a moment. The train was slowing. That's where she was and why she had woken up. How long had she slept for anyway?

"Cuu!"

The small groan from Coloro alerted the girl to the sleeping Ainu in front of her. The tiny spirit was now preoccupied with trying to cover her master with his jacket as he slept. It seemed to be a bit heavy for her though. Tamao smiled and helped Coloro place the garment over the lightly snoring man.

Giving a relieved sigh Coloro thanked the girl with a flick of her leaf and went to rest on his head. She looked down at the sleeping pair and then down at her watch. It would be at least another half hour until they reached Hokkaido. They would probably have to take a cab in the city though. They were just too loaded to go home by board, plus it was colder at night. She sat back down opposite of him all the while looking at his content sleeping face.

She had never had a friend like Horo-Horo. She didn't think she had ever been this close to anyone actually. The truth was, with Yoh she had never dared get close enough to him to have a decent conversation. Anna... was self explanatory. Manta she related to but they hadn't really spent that much time together. The closest thing she had had to a friend was maybe Pilica. But it had been so easy to get to know Horo-Horo. It was different what Tamao felt for him than what she felt for his sister. It was a nice unfamiliar bond.

"We were really made for each other don't you think?" he had said at the end of his lost luggage story.

He hadn't thought much about those words, but for some reason they kept bouncing around in her mind. She kept brushing them off though. After all she did have a tendency to over think everything.

Coloro opened an eye discretely as the girl sunk back into a state of semi-awareness and smiled. All of this was becoming quite interesting.

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Ok, this chapter I made from scratch and is completely new. I hope it follows the vibe of the rest of the story though. Don't forget to review!